Getting Ready for The Naked Roommate

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Getting Ready for The Naked Roommate

• Building a College Transition Program on Your
  Campus

Carolyn Stoddard, Hammond School Alex Scovel,
University of South Carolina
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Background Roles

• Higher Education Student Affairs
• First-Year Experience Course
• Job Function
• Admissions
• College Counseling

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What were hoping to do

• Understand first-year transition issues
• Learn about relevant campus services and
  programming for students in transition
• Gain ideas on initiating a college transition
  program in your high school

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• The class of 2015 was mostly born in 1993, and
  they have grown up with email, cell-phones and
  Starbucks. Most were in third grade on Sept. 11,
  so they are accustomed to heavy security and
  trusting adults in positions of authority. Their
  academic successes have been measured in
  standardized test scores, and their social ones
  are documented in Facebook newsfeeds.

- August 10, 2011
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Words that best describe the 2011-12 cohorts of
First-Year Students

• Millennials
• Optimistic
• High Achieving
• Civic-Minded
• Moral
• Over-programmed
• Tech-savvy
• Entitled

• Group-oriented
• Followers
• Dependent
• Multicultural
• Collectivist
• Non-political
• Conformist

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National Resource Center for the First-Year
Experience and Students in Transition

• Founded in 1986
• Clearinghouse for research, policy, and best
  practices for all postsecondary student
  transitions
• Supporting and advancing efforts to improve
  student learning and transitions into and through
  higher education

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Two Challenges for First-Year Students

• Economic Realities
• Emotional Health Wellness

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Economic Realities

• 40 of all undergraduates in the US are from
  low-income families
• 58 of low-income undergrads are women
• 48 of low-income undergrads are students of
  color
• National Spending on Pell Grants has increased
  but not kept up with the increase in college
  costs
• Rate of unemployment has increased currently at
  8.2 nationally and 9.1 in SC

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Economic Realities College Choice

• Have major concerns about financing college
• Less likely to
• go to college over 100 miles from home
• Attend their first-choice college
• More likely to
• live with their family
• structure college decisions around financial aid

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Economic RealitiesStudent Employment

• Many Undergraduates Work Long Hours Balancing
  Jobs with Studies THE CHRONICLE
• 23 of FT students work 20 or more hours/week
• 62 of PT students work 20 or more hours/week
• The greater the number of hours worked, the more
  likely students are engaged in off-campus
  employment
• Over half of first-year students report that
  their job responsibilities interfere with their
  schoolwork at least occasionally

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Personal Challenges During the First Year
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Physical Health Wellness

• High school drinking among new students is
  decreasing
• Drinking goes up 10-12 percentage-points during
  the first year
• 41.6 of male 27.5 of female colleges students
  regularly binge drink
• Students with learning disabilities, ADHD, and
  psychological disorders report higher rates of
  drinking
• First-year students experience a decline in hours
  per week spent on exercising or sports leisure
  activities
• 41.7 of undergraduates reported getting enough
  sleep to feel rested 2 or fewer days per week

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Emotional Health Wellness

• The number of student self-injury cases is rising
• Significant increases in students who enter
  college already on psychotropic medication
• Directors of campus counseling centers report
• 44 of their clients have severe psychological
  problems
• 7 have impairments such that they cannot remain
  in school or do so with extensive psychological
  or psychiatric help
• Increased pressure to share concerns about
  troubled students who might pose a risk

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College ServicesHow do we Help at USC?

• Counseling Center
• Office of Student Conduct
• University 101
• Living Learning Communities
• Student Success Center
• Student Disability Services

• Service Learning
• Campus Wellness
• Multicultural Student Affairs
• Off-Campus Student Services
• Leadership Programs
• Substance Abuse Prevention Education
• Student Organizations

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What Colleges Expect of Students

• Autonomy Independence
• Responsible for their college experience
• Engaged Learners who can contribute to the campus
  community
• Interests, goals, and dreams
• Bonus traits Maturity, Resiliency, Drive,
  Authenticity, Honesty, Self-Awareness

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How Does this Translate to High Schools?

• Duty to Prepare
• Transitional Cycle
• Brings the college process full circle
• Search
• Apply
• Choose
• Transition

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Goals for High School Program

• Dispel myths and convey reality
• Provide opportunities for discussion about
  anxieties, plans, hopes
• Offer advice to make an effective academic and
  personal transition while emphasizing that the
  experience is up to them
• Build confidence that they can do it!

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Sample Model

• Half-day Program
• Split into small groups
• Sessions
• 20 30 minutes
• Students rotate through sessions
• Several presenters or moderators per session
• Balance of discussion and activity

• Session Topics
• Academics
• Money Management
• Defending Yourself
• Wellness
• Getting to Know Campus Making a Place for
  Yourself
• Student Panel of Alums

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Sample Model continued

• Activities
• Budget Planning
• Roommate Scenarios
• Laundry
• Self-Defense
• Fears Exercise
• Goal Setting
• Talking to Alums

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Presenters

• Who?
• Faculty
• Administrators
• College Professionals
• First-Year Experience Courses
• Student Affairs Professionals
• Campus Safety
• Credit Union
• Career Center

• Tasks
• Convey the right message
• Familiarity
• Respect
• Attention
• Come Prepared

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Schedule

• 800 850 a.m. Cap Gown Photos
• 850 900 Introduction Schedules
• 900 1025 Sessions
• 1025 1045 Break with Snacks
• 1045 1210 Sessions
• 1210 1230 Laundry Competition
• 1230 1245 Wrap Up
• 1245 BBQ

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Considerations

• Timing
• When to begin transition work?
• Campus Culture
• Backgrounds, disabilities, activities
• Student Concerns
• Roommates
• Branching Out
• Pairing with Another Event

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1st Attempt Challenges

• Presenters
• Efficient guidance setting expectations
• Timing
• Balance enough time for discussion but not too
  long so as to lose attention
• Buy-In
• Students, Faculty, Administration
• Coordination

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Involving Parents

• Suggestions for Programming
• Opportunity to give parents a voice and expose
  them to college transition issues
• Types of Programs
• Morning Coffee Talk
• Optional Evening Presentation
• Combined Student/Parent Program

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Suggested Reading

• The Naked Roommate Harlan Cohen
• Letting Go, A Parents Guide to Understanding the
  College Years Coburn and Treeger
• Youre On Your Own (But Im Here If You Need Me)
  Majorie Savage
• Ill Miss You Too Woodacre Bane Bane

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Questions for the Group

• What have your alums experienced?
• What are you doing at your school for transition
  support?
• Additional questions from the audience?

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Sources

• National Resource Center for The First-Year
  Experience and Students in Transition.
• (Slides 6-11 created by Dr. Jennifer Keup,
  Director of NRC)
• Principles of Good Practice for Student
  Affairs. www.acpa.nche.edu/pgp/principle.htm

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Contact Info

• Alex Scovel
• University of South Carolina
• scovel_at_sc.edu
• Carolyn Stoddard
• Hammond School
• cstoddard_at_hammondschool.org